Empowering EU Capital Markets- Making listing cool again Final report of the Technical Expert Stakeholder Group (TESG) on SMEs

Broadening access to market-based sources of financing for European companies at each stage of their development is at the heart of the capital markets union. To do so, the CMU initiative has strived to create a more conducive regulatory framework supporting access to public funding for small and mid-sized Enterprises (SMEs). In October 2020, as mandated by Regulation 2019/2115 as regards the promotion of the use of SME growth markets, the European Commission set up a Technical Expert Stakeholder Group on SMEs (TESG) that brought together relevant stakeholders with technical expertise on SMEs’ access to finance. The Group was tasked with monitoring and assessing the functioning of SME Growth Markets, as well as providing expertise and possible input on other relevant areas of SME access to public markets. Their work was finalized in May 2021 and culminated with their final report setting out 12 concrete recommendations to foster SME listing.As per action 2 of the new CMU action plan, the Commission will now thoroughly assess the proposals made by the TESG and explore possibilities to simplify listing rules for public markets, in order to facilitate and diversify small and innovative companies’ access to funding